The Story of Bailey

Anyone familiar with Houston will remember the February freeze of 2021. The week of the snow and freezing weather, as I lay on my couch using my chocolate lab as my personal blanket, I decided it would be a good idea to get another dog. Parker, the lab, was an older dog and I thought a puppy may help keep him young. Plus, I just wanted another dog. The idea of a Dalmatian had been on and off of my mind for a while, so that’s what I started searching for. Back then, I wanted to get a “cheap” purebred dog, so I took to Craigslist. I’m sure y’all can imagine how this turned out.

I found Bailey posted on there as a purebred Dalmatian who couldn’t be cared for anymore by her owner who had just gotten her. She was in my price range, and Dalmatians don’t have a ton of spots when they’re little, so I took the seller’s word that she was purebred. The woman even sent me photos of Bailey’s “parents”, which sealed the deal for me. I picked her up from the woman, paid the fee, and was on my merry way.

Except, I had my suspicions. Except, I had my doubts about her actually being a Dalmatian. I should have gone with that instinct and been more discerning beforehand, but now I found (and it was later confirmed through bloodwork included in her puppy shots package) that I had purchased a very expensive mutt.

I tried to reach back out to the woman to get my money back, even just some of it, without success. No reply. I had to swallow my decision and mistake.

The moral of this story is not that there’s anything wrong with having a mutt. I grew up with rescues and we still have two Craigslist dogs to this day, one of whom is Bailey. I lovingly refer to her as my “half-dal” because she is, in fact, about half Dalmatian. The moral of this story is this: if you have a specific dog in mind, go with a reputable breeder. Know what you’re paying for, plan for the payment, ask questions, interview breeders, and make sure your hopes are met.

I don’t know about other breeds, but in the Dalmatian world, specifaically, there is a lot of time, effort, and love put into breeding puppies. Here at St. Rocco’s we test for hearing, uric acid levels (all should have low uric acid if we have bred according to our goals), and we ensure that Bubbles (our Dam) and any male we use have had thorough testing (ears, uric acid, hips) and are distantly related enough as to not cause issues with genetics.

Beyond that, any good breeder will not leave you in the poisiton I experienced after realizing Bailey wasn’t what I expected- they will answer your questions and will always take a puppy/dog back if they can no longer be cared for. The goal is to find the right homes for our puppies, always.

And don’t worry- Bailey is incredibly spoiled abs cares for, even though she wasn’t what I expected 🐶😊

(Enjoy some cute pictures of her as a puppy 🥰)